Over the last 15 years, household and commercial lighting based on LEDs has become increasingly dominant in the marketplace, supplanting traditional incandescent and fluorescent luminaires. Linear lighting, one particular form of LED lighting, typically includes a thin, elongate printed circuit board (PCB) populated with a number of LED light engines, usually spaced at a regular pitch. The PCB may be either flexible or rigid.
One of the most popular ways of using linear lighting is to install it in a channel and cover it with a cover. The channel offers protection, and the cover typically acts as a diffuser, spreading the light and improving the overall appearance, although covers may be used for a wide variety of protective and beam-shaping purposes. The result is a finished luminaire suitable for installation in a variety of locations.
Examples of channels used with linear lighting can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 9,279,544, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. The typical channel for linear lighting is a single-piece extrusion, made of metal or plastic, that has a pair of sidewalls and a bottom. The sidewalls of some channels have outwardly-extending flanges, which are typically used for flush-mounting the channels in walls.